Painting a Ork Dakkajet

So I painted a Ork Dakkajet this weekend. I have wanted to paint one of these since GW released the model, so decided what the hell, lets do it. And was I glad that I did, this was a fun model to paint!

So from the beginning, here is how it comes out of the box:

Only three sprue’s, but these are packed with fun little bits of detail and items on them. All was cast well, no problems there.

Putting it together was a breeze, but watch those wing supports! I put them on upside down to begin with, which gave me a headscratch moment when I tried to connect the exhausts.

As I have found with most GW instructions for models, its best to use these as a example of how to put these models together, not the be all and end all. A little experimentation can yield some simple yet nice conversions straight out of the box.

It took about 45 minutes to put it together to this stage.

Note the pilot and weapons are not built at the moment, this allows for easier painting of the main aircraft.

I under-coated it with Tamiya Grey Primer, then put a base coat of Humbrol Crimson down over the top.

After that, I just had fun with this model. I used a variety of different techniques to get the battle damage in place, and played around for around 3 hours until I liked it. (One note, Humbrol crimson spray is a pain to paint over. It has a very gloss finish, and shows up every brush stroke on top of it. Lesson learnt, next test will be with a coat of matt varnish over the top before painting.)

Like I said, I had some real fun painting this, and it is going into the commissions folder to show people what I can do. For now, this is on ebay. Go and check it out if you want, maybe you might even want it, I don't know. More of these can be painted, so if you want a squadron painting, head over to facebook.com/farlandsgames and drop me a message!

Paint Planning

As I sit here waiting for my copy of the new Warhammer 40000, I decided to have a little chat about planning when painting.

Why is it important to have a plan and stick to it?

Most of the miniatures that we paint all have some sort of regimental cohesion, such as Ultramarines being blue and gold, Blood Angels being red, yellow and orange, and Imperial Guard mostly being greys and greens. I am guilty myself of starting a army project, finishing it, and all the models look different, down to the actual main colour being different. This has come from a lack of planning, using different colours, and results in a disjointed look to the army.

How have I got around this?

Basically now I make a list at the beginning of each project. I write a rough idea of each stage of the paint job, what colours go where, even down to the time taken for each stage. I then take a look at what paints I have. If I have less than half a pot/bottle left, I go out and get a new pot/bottle. I do this as there is a variation between each pot of paint, some being stronger colour, some being weaker, even within the colour range. I hate starting, running out, and getting a new pot that is darker or lighter. Here we go to a earlier point, it breaks the cohesion of the army.

I then paint a test model, just to see if the list I have written works, and I make amendments to it as I go. It becomes the final list, what I work to on every model.

I usually paint in batches of 10, keeping the models moving like a conveyor belt. Base coat all of them, and by the time I have completed model 10, model 1 is dry enough to be worked on again. I have found this also helps cohesion within the squad, and keeps them looking even.

So we get all the models in each squad looking the same colour wise, and all the models in the army are the same colour wise. In my eyes, it makes a much better impression when people see it, and looks better on the table.

Give it a try, make a list of the stages that need to be done, and stick to it. You might be surprised!